Dubai: Indian baby girl dies on board Kochi-Manama flight

Dubai, Mar 3: A one-year-old Indian baby girl died mid-air on board a Gulf Air flight from Kochi to Bahrain's capital Manama, forcing the aircraft to make an emergency landing at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

The child, identified as Hrishipria, was flying with her mother Ashwini and suddenly fell sick almost half-way into the flight, a media report said today.

She died on board the flight due to which the plane made an emergency landing at Abu Dhabi International Airport yesterday morning, the Khaleej Times reported, citing sources.

"As the aircraft landed at Abu Dhabi International Airport, we immediately shifted the body to Shaikh Khalifa (Medical City) hospital morgue," said an airline source.

He said the airline staff offloaded the luggage of the mother and child at Abu Dhabi airport and the plane left for Manama after a delay of one-and-a-half hours.

"We made all arrangements for shifting the body to the hospital morgue and took care of the mother in this time of grief," he said.

About an official statement from the airline, the source said it can only be issued by its headquarters in Manama after completion of all the medico-legal procedures in Abu Dhabi.

"We will provide all necessary help to the grieving family for repatriation of the body," he added. According to family sources in India, the father of the child, identified as Binoy, has been working in Bahrain for the last 10 years.

The couple got married three years ago. Ashwini was residing in Bahrain with her husband but had travelled to Kerala for delivery of the baby about one-and- a-half-years back.

The family hails from Thrissur in central Kerala. Binoy arrived late yesterday from Bahrain and joined his wife in Abu Dhabi.

PTI